Christy Bitzer still fighting the fight, worried for future family

Glenn Baeske / The Huntsville TimesChristy Bitzer sits with two quilts she used during her chemotherapy treatments. The one on the left was made by a friend, and the one on the right was made by her aunt.

Draped with two handmade quilts given to her before her first chemotherapy treatment, she sounded authoritative and knowledgeable about her recent breast cancer diagnosis. Her voice didn't waiver as she described her course of treatment.

She admitted the diagnosis was a shock, especially since she was only 30 years old and had no family history of the disease. Once she had the facts about her cancer, the Huntsville Hospital nurse said she handled it well, doing much of her own research and learning about treatment options outside the area.

"There was an uncertainty of not knowing in the beginning," she said. "Once I knew, I could deal and plan."

As she talked about noticing the change in her breast that led to her diagnosis, and about testing negative for the breast cancer gene, it was hard to see that she is struggling with the disease.

In fact, it wasn't noticeable at all until she ran her hands through her shoulder-length hair and looked down at fingers full of the brown strands.

"It's worse in the shower," she said.

Today, Bitzer will go through her fourth chemotherapy treatment. Three months ago, she and her husband, Phillip, traveled to Louisiana, where she underwent a double mastectomy.

The plan was to have reconstructive surgery at the same time. But because her lymph nodes were affected, she couldn't have the simultaneous breast reconstruction. Instead, she has implants, but will undergo reconstruction surgery next year using tissue from her stomach and hips to rebuild her breasts.

"It's your own tissue so it's natural, even as you gain and lose weight," Bitzer said.

She decided this option, called free-flap reconstruction, was best for her, but Huntsville doctors don't offer the procedure, so she'll be returning to Louisiana.

Glenn Baeske / The Huntsville TimesPhillip and Christy Bitzer

Bitzer isn't afraid of death as much as she is afraid of not being able to have children. The couple have been married six years, but decided to wait to have children until after they were both finished with graduate school.

Bitzer recently finished nurse practitioner school, and her husband is finishing his Ph.D. studies in physics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

"I think the hardest part has been having to wait to have children," she said.

Although her chemo will be over in another five months and radiation several months after that, she will be on a hormone drug for another five years, so the couple will have to wait at least six more years before starting a family.

That decision will also depend on whether the drugs she's taking kick her into an early menopause, which often happens.

"I don't know if I'll be fertile when my treatment is over," she said. "That's the really hard part to deal with."

Before her surgery, the Bitzers took some steps to give them some options after the treatments.

"The good news is we have eggs frozen, and there are tons of children who need a home," she said.

Christy seems amazingly calm to have been through so much at a young age. She said her husband's support and her faith in God are what she leans on.

"I know that (God) has a reason for everything, and that I may not understand or know the reason but that there is one," she said. "I also know that God will not give us more than we can endure."